Celebrate Easter @ SLM

     On this Easter Sunday, the universal Church proclaims “Christ is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!” And with the psalmist, we are able to say joyfully, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad” (Ps 118:24).
     We rejoice and are glad because of the profound message of that very first Easter, which is a message of hope, renewal, and new life. We rejoice with the knowledge that our life is not limited to this earthly reality that is often permeated with great uncertainty, pain and suffering. We rejoice because “Our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). We rejoice because as Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, “Faith in the resurrection of Jesus says that there is a future for every human being; the cry of unending life which is part of the person is indeed answered. God exists; that is the real message of Easter.”     
     While many may be preoccupied with the things of this world, as people of faith, we are called to keep our eyes squarely focused on Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever! St. Paul in his exhortation to the primitive church in Colossae reminds us to set our sights beyond this world, when he says, “If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:1-3). Let us then not be afraid! And let us keep our eyes on Jesus - the Way, the Truth and the Life - who through his suffering, death and resurrection guides us along the path that leads to our eternal destination!

-Fr. Thomas